Well, I can’t believe that this is my 160th post! What on earth have I found to write (or ramble on about?) I now have 11 categories. Some of these are well left behind – like the London Jaunt and LasVegas. They’re nice to look back on though. I am continuing with my Transcription. That consists of two journals stuck together and I am nearly coming to the end of the first one.

transcription journal front

I have some more surfaces to continue with yet. The altered art book has 3 pages before the first chapter is finished. I am then into brand new territory. Some pages have been prepared, but the words haven’t been chosen (which was the case when the book disappeared for a few years then popped up. I then couldn’t remember WHY I’d chosen those particular words, but decided to try to work with them anyway. There are three chapters altogether.

page7 and8 altered art book

I have introduced a new section called ‘Dear Reader I Read it’ which will critique what I’m reading, or re reading. Another category is called ‘Bronte Bites’. This will be about stuff relating to the Brontes. The Brontes fascinate me, but I do not purport to be an expert on them by any means. I’m always willing to learn what I can about them from people who are more knowledgable than me. So any opinion that I give is only my own opinion, and not an expert one.

bronte_sisters by branwell bronte c1834

I will be continuing with ‘Art I LOVE’, because I love SO MUCH art! I am finding it increasingly difficult to actually do any art (apart from my altered book) as I have so many other things on the go. That’s my update anyway, and where I am up to at the moment.

One artist springs immediately to mind – artist Mona Hatoum. (b. 1975 Beirut Lebanon). In her exhibition ‘The Grater Divide’ at the White Cube 2002 the artist used familiar objects on a larger scale, such as a fold out cheese grater that acts as a room divider. Hatoum’s work identifies with being uprooted and living in exile. Hatoum employs installation, sculpture, performance art and mixed media in her work, addressing subjects such as exile, the body, control, life death amongst others. Her work is fascinating. For a more in depth view look here.

page-23

Page 23 of my altered art book. It seems so long since I last did a page, lets hope I’m now on a roll lol! I am very nearly near the end of the first ‘chapter’ (there are 3 altogether I think) and I am already having a problem closing this book!

The text I have chosen (long ago) is;

“Back in his own room he wound the tape back and switched to PLAY. Nothing for long seconds, then a rustling like leaves, then his voice, wrapped up, as if he was talking through cloth.”

page-23-detail lipstick kissed through fabric

I thought deeply about WHY I had chosen these words and what they said to me. The idea of recording an event and replaying it: looking back on a moment that has gone. The need to TELL. This made me think of some sort of confessional and inevitably, a grill, a barrier beween the teller and the listener.

page-23-detail-

Also the idea of talking through cloth, muffled voices: the words indistinct, the voice not being recognised. Perhaps a yashmak, (a veil worn by Muslim women to cover their faces in public), or a scarf, a gag: voices trying to make themselves distinct through time. Or when you hear a foreign language and your ears try to pick out words you recognise in your own language (and of course it makes no difference at all, but it doesn’t stop you trying because the urge to communicate is too strong).

page21

Continuing with my altered art book, I have now reached page 21. I am still doing pages whose words were chosen a long time ago and for a particular reason.Though those original reasons are now lost, I am just going by what suggests itself to me, and I shall see what happens. I chose quite a lot of words for this page;-

“She’d be laid out in her coffin, pink satin it’d be with blue trimmings to go with her make-up”

Silver trains shake through the stone

My Mum chucked them out. The whole lot. She said they were dirty.

I don’t know…….some people

eye leaking

like it always did

two catrinas

Sounds a bit grisly eh? What can it all mean? laid out in her coffin with her make-up on. In Mexico they celebrate the dead, they have the Day of the Dead, (1st – 2nd November) where the dead are celebrated. Read about it here.

eternal-slumber

I also came across these strange dolls in coffins! They’re called ‘Living Dead dolls’ and seem very strange, to say the least. They do have a kind of grisly charm I suppose….. if you are that way inclined. I don’t know what the ideology is behind them though. When you are little you imbue your dolls with life, they become little companions, you talk to them (and they talk back …..well mine did!) What do you do with a dead doll though? bring it to life? like you would anyway if it wasn’t dressed in a shroud? if it wasn’t in a coffin? Confused.

Continuing with my altered art book, the words that were chosen were;

‘Little bastard!’

Then high heels across the hallway and kitchen, then the door clicked shut..

He stared at her and stomped off up the road….

Again, WHY THOSE PARTICULAR WORDS? What was I thinking of when I chose them? The answer is lost in time and I have to work with the present, in the present…and I have my work cut out so I had better sharpen those scissors eh!

page20-detail

Stumped, I turned to Google and typed in ‘Little Bastard’, the result was surprising!

spyder porshe -james-dean

This was the actor James Dean’s racing car. Well you learn something new every day. The story about the car, his death and story are fascinating: read here! I suppose judging by the sheer randomness of this, and the moodiness of the text (stomping off etc), James Dean or to be more generic, icons will be the theme of this page.

Continuing my Altered art book: page 19: the words I have chosen are;

He had a moment of clairvoyance

He turned cold inside and something tightened in his head……

I had a bit of a job with this. Why had I chosen those words so long ago?

page-19with curtain up

‘A moment of clairvoyance’ what does it mean? a sudden enlightenment? a revealation? the moment you just ‘knew’? I think everyone gets glimpses every now and again. I think ‘clues’ are all around us about what is going to happen, or what direction we are heading. It’s a matter of interpreting them, being aware and sensitive to slight changes. This made me think about lifting a curtain up, or a veil and taking a peek what lies beyond it.

page-19-with-curtain-down

I printed out a small picture of Aleceister Crowley (why him? I honestly don’t know), but its likely because he tried to get beyond the veil…into a few dark corners lol! I then placed a ‘curtain’ over him. I suppose I was thinking of the Magician (so above, so below) and subverting this to ‘so underneath, so over (the top lol) or so is hidden, so is revealed. The artist relating to this page will be myself………….

Continuing my Altered art book: page 17, the words chosen are: –

and

The streets smelt of simmering green vegetables and gas leaks…

stained green sofa

‘Didn’t realise it was for sale’

Everything is for sale

Inside the room was such a concentration of junk as he’d never seen before…….

Strange words eh? ‘simmering green vegetables and gas leaks’. I can almost image the green colur. It is one of those lines that inspire painting. One of my Echostains painting employed the lines: –

“Where the scent of wild roses, turn the milk to cream,

Tell your mother that you walked all night on velvet green.”

What I was trying to achieve in this painting was to try to turn ‘the scent of wild roses’ into ‘velvet green’. In a sense, trying to turn a smell into a colour through the senses (sight). Unfortunately though, I sold ‘Velvet Green’ . I have a copy of it somewhere that I will add when I find it.

hangover-tomaselli-2005-pills-acrylic-resin-on-wood

For ‘Junk’ I used tablets, drugs as a background. Californian artist Fred Tomaselli (b.1956) uses unusual mixed media, including prescription drugs, medicinal herbs and plants with hallucinogenic properties on wood. Combined with other mixed media, including magazine scraps, making unusual connections between high and low culture.